Australia Office
There could be many reasons for visa refusal or cancellation. It is totally disheartening to be notified of the visa refusal or cancellation.
If you are onshore and have received the refusal, cancellation or NOICC letter from the department. Do not panic! You may be eligible to apply for the Merit Review at the Tribunal.
There could be so many reasons where an applicant could be liable for Visa refusal or cancellation. Some of the examples are given below:
Misleading information or bogus document
Did not provide the OSHC or OVHC
Did not provide the documents for financial capacity – Student visa
English test was invalid
Failure to meet the character test
Failure to meet the health test
In most cases when applicant is onshore. The applicant has the right to make a merit review application with AAT within the prescribed time frame.
AAT reviews the decision made by the Federal Government. There used to be two different bodies before 1st July 2015, Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) and Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT). Now they are incorporated in one body, called the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
AAT has three different divisions, Migration Division, which reviews all the migration-related decision; Refugee Division, which reviews the Refugee and protection visa-related decisions; and the General Division reviews the decisions related to business visa, character test and other matters which do not cover under other two divisions.
The AAT is an independent body and reviews your file based on the facts, laws applied to the decision by the department. The AAT looks at the forms, supporting documents, other important information relevant to you case and consider if there is any change in the applicable circumstances.
If you have received the refusal or cancellation letter, and you have merit review rights. You must apply within the specified time limit on the notification letter. AAT doesn’t allow the extension of time, and the applicant needs to ensure that the application is lodged within the prescribed time frame.
Generally, cases are decided between 12 to 18 months. AAT does have its own guideline to prioritize the case, i.e., review on visitor visa application where an Australian sponsor has made the appeal will be prioritized quickly. You can check more detail here: https://www.aat.gov.au/steps-in-a-review/migration-and-refugee/migration/what-happens-after-lodgement
AAT has the power of the following:
Affirm: AAT can affirm the department decision. It means AAT will agree with the department decision, and the applicant will get no success.
Vary:
AAT can vary the department decision and will remit the decision back to the department with a new recommendation.
Set aside: In many cases, AAT can also set aside the department decision. In that case, the applicant visa will be taken to have never cancelled.
You will have two options:
1. File an application with Federal Court – It can only be done when you strongly believed that there was an error of law and AAT has not exercised the law properly, which could be for many other reasons.
2. Application for Ministerial intervention – You can also consider writing a request to minister if you have a genuine need to do so. Minister can use his personal discretion with a number of cases even though the success rate is exceptionally low.
Applying for AAT review within the prescribed time frame could be a daunting and stressful task. Facts of your case will be assessed last time regarding the visa application.
Our registered migration agent has years of experience and knowledge with merit review applications. We put our best efforts to research the relevant cases.
We respond promptly to all the queries. Get in touch with our team today.